From Pastor’s Desk

Where do you see signs of new life? As Easter arrives, we celebrate anew the life that the Holy Spirit brings. We exult in the conviction that God creates life and renews it each and every day. More than that, we rejoice in the good news that in Jesus’ resurrection we receive a promise that the God of life overcomes the forces that bring death into this world. It is life that is ultimate and not death. And yet, how much time do we spent looking for signs of life compared to the time we spend fretting about signs of decay around us? The reality is that over times things fall apart. It might be our dishwasher or relationships in our life, or it may be our own bodies. Indeed all of these things have a propensity to fall apart over time. If we focus on that, we will always feel like the world around us is disintegrating. 

Yet, somehow the world keeps going, life pops up in unexpected places, relationships get renewed from time to time, and our lives sometimes experience unexpected sparks. The world is slowly falling apart and, yet, somehow it holds together and even brings forth renewed and unexpected life. I call this the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sneaks up on us and breathes life around us when we aren’t looking. That is the joy of recognizing the Spirit at work. It happens again and again, year after year, century after century. You would think that sooner or later we would learn to spend more time looking for signs of the Holy Spirit than getting worked up at the signs of things falling apart, but we are slow to get the message. God is here, working around us. We can catch a glimpse if we know how to look.

As we enter the Easter season, we enter a season of images of the new life that God brings. We see it chiefly in the resurrection of Christ. From that image of life, we can then retrain our eyes around us to look for the sneaky signs of the Spirit. We see new hopes and possibilities, new ways of living and new joys in life. Where do you see signs of new life? How has the renewed energy of the Spirit captured you today?